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Star Wars Stunt Coordinator Reveals The Origins Of Obi-Wan’s High Ground Line

With the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the decades-spanning Skywalker Saga finally comes to a close, but for the fans out there who’ll defend Lucasfilm’s Prequel Trilogy to the hilt, the bigger moment this month might be the long-awaited explanation for one of the most heavily memed lines in Revenge of the Sith.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

With the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the decades-spanning Skywalker Saga finally comes to a close, but for the fans out there who’ll defend Lucasfilm’s Prequel Trilogy to the hilt, the bigger moment this month might be the long-awaited explanation for one of the most heavily memed lines in Revenge of the Sith.

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Any longtime fan of the franchise likely needs no reminding of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s famed “high ground” moment. The line comes at the climax of the Jedi’s heated duel with Anakin Skywalker. After the pair fight it out over a glowing river of lava, Obi-Wan leaps onto a nearby hill, before telling Hayden Christensen’s character:

“It’s over Anakin, I have the high ground.”

In a recent interview with IGN, Lucasfilm stunt coordinator and fight choreographer Nick Gillard explained the origins of the line, and funnily enough, it all stemmed from Christensen’s refusal to take the shortest route to high ground:

“We would eat in this restaurant every night that was up a hill. You could walk up the road and down to this restaurant, or you could walk across a steep bank to it. For me, I always want the most direct route so I’m going for the bank, and [Hayden] hates walking on a slope, so that was in my mind about the higher ground. If I can get [Anakin] on the slope, Obi might have a chance.”

Of course, unlike his real world counterpart, Anakin is all too willing to take the most direct path to higher ground, making a daring leap to Obi-Wan’s position. And as it turns out, it might’ve been better if he’d gone the long way round, since his jump leaves him vulnerable to an attack from his former master, who literally slices the young Sith into pieces.

The rest, as they say, is history, though it seems that we still don’t have the full story about Obi-Wan’s journey after the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. As you’ve likely heard, Ewan McGregor is set to reprise his role for a new Disney Plus series, and while it remains to be seen if the show will feature any callbacks to the Jedi’s “high ground” moment, you can bet that the fans will be ready with the memes.